On 05/05/16 06:07, Chuck Guzis wrote:
On 05/04/2016 08:24 PM, ANDY HOLT wrote:
Could someone with access to the OED please check up the first use of
the term "minicomputer" I strongly suspect it was around the time
that the PDP11/20 came out or slightly later. The IBM 1130 and 1800
were comparable to the /original/ CDC 1700, were similarly launched
in the mid 60s, but similarly they were not /at that time/ referred
to as minis.
Merriam Webster and the OED gives the first published use in 1967
http://www.wordorigins.org/index.php/site/comments/1967_words/
The OED cites:
1967. Datamation. Jan 1985/1.
The quote is roughly '"an overcoat-pocket-sized" aerospace computer,
the 449...'
The OED does point out that the usage of the term has shifted over the
years.
Interestingly (well, interesting to me at least) the earliest OED
citation from Datamation is "personal computer" from an advert in 1959
(May-Jun 29).
There's an earlier citation for "personal computer" from 1954.
Antonio
--
Antonio Carlini
[email protected]
